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Dartmouth Study Highlights Widespread Intolerance And Groupthink Among Liberal Students

Dartmouth College recently conducted a study of the "political landscape" of its student body — and ended up finding an alarming degree of intolerance and groupthink, particularly among the liberal students.

The study was a campus-wide survey conducted from April 9 to April 13 that asked a total of 432 students a range of questions, including their opinions of Donald Trump, their willingness to room with people of another political ideology, and their views on allowing conservatives to speak on campus. The campus paper, The Dartmouth, provided a summary of the results.

Of the students interviewed, only 23 percent identified as Republican, while 63 percent identified as Democrat and just 14 percent as independent. Asked how they felt about Donald Trump's handling of the presidency so far, an overwhelming 85 percent of the students said they strongly or somewhat disapproved. Only 11 percent said they strongly or somewhat approved of Trump. The Dartmouth notes that the 85 percent result ends up being exactly the same percentage that said in a previous survey they intended to vote for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

In a question gauging students' tolerance of opposing views, Dartmouth asked students how "comfortable" they would be having a roommate of "opposing political views to your own." Out of the three political affiliations, the students who identified as Democrats were by far the least tolerant, with a plurality of 45 percent saying they would be "uncomfortable," 39 percent saying they would be "comfortable" and 16 percent answering "neither."

Republicans were the most tolerant of the three groups, 69 percent saying they would be comfortable rooming with someone with opposing political views, only 12 percent saying they would be uncomfortable and 19 percent saying neither. Independents were slightly less tolerant than Republicans, 61 percent saying they'd be comfortable, 16 percent uncomfortable and 22 percent saying neither.

Alexander Agadjanian | The Dartmouth Senior Staff

The paper provides a quote from the president of the Dartmouth College Democrats, who said she was not surprised that Republicans were more open to rooming with a Democrat because they are surrounded by Democrats at the college. "It's unfortunate — I wish we had more political diversity," she said. The vice president of the Republican student group agreed that fellow Republicans were far outnumbered and more likely to be tolerant.

The survey also addressed the issue of freedom of speech on campus, and found additional, troubling evidence of intolerance from students who lean left.

The study asked students what they thought about allowing certain figures from the political right to speak on campus. A stunning 22 percent said they did not believe President Trump should be allowed to speak. Only 75 percent said the President of the United States should be allowed to appear on campus, while 3 percent were "not sure."

The percentages were worse for more controversial conservative figures. A total of 38 percent said conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos should not be allowed to speak on Dartmouth's campus, only 54 percent defending his free speech rights. Twenty-six percent said white nationalist Richard Spencer should not be allowed to speak, while only 65 percent said that Charles Murray (who has been vilified for saying that I.Q. might have some relationship to race) should definitely be allowed to speak. Only Mitt Romney was given near unanimous permission to speak.

Alexander Agadjanian | The Dartmouth Senior Staff

The study is yet more evidence that the number of students on college campuses who defend fee speech and embrace ideological tolerance is rapidly shrinking. As the recent protests erupting over the presence of conservatives on campus have made frighteningly clear, the next generation is being raised to not only fear honest debate, but to brand those who disagree with them politically as being disqualified from First Amendment protections and worthy of censorship, even by violent means.

More from The Daily Wire on ideological intolerance on college campuses: